Felice
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Maybe, just maybe, Nico is not getting 'happier' and is just 'happy'. -Nico and four conversations


**Title:** Felice

**Prompt:** Dec 7 / the king of all happiness

**Character/Pairing:** Nico, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, Will

**A/N:** despite my problems with the last three books in the series, I really liked BOO. Especially Reyna. My queen. . Anyways, I'm going to ignore the really weird and out of nowhere Reyna&Piper and Nico will not instantly get over Percy here. :)

**Summary: **Maybe, just maybe, Nico is not getting 'happier' and is just 'happy'.

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1.

"So, we're teaming up for capture the flag, right?" Jason looks at him eagerly, a smile on his face, and Nico grimaces.

"I'd rather not."

"Team up with me?"

"Play the game." Nico frowns. "Can't I just skip?"

Jason laughs and finishes the food on his plate. "I don't think they'll let you do that." He looks over to where Percy's standing, talking to Annabeth under the trees. "Maybe we should team up again. The big three against everyone else."

"...this is why I don't want to team up with you." Nico plays with his food and looks at the spot across from him. Usually Percy sits there.

And he's always the one who starts the big three conversation.

"You better now?" Jason asks, quietly, all bravado gone. Nico doesn't have to look up to know Jason's expression, the exact degree his eyes have softened.

And it surprises him that he knows his friend so well. That he knows anyone this well.

"Better," Nico answers. "Will thinks I can start shadow travelling again now."

"I bet he doesn't want you to." Jason smiles briefly. "But that wasn't what I meant."

"I know." It isn't that easy to give up on a crush. Percy is human to him now, no longer a hero or a god.

But that doesn't make him any less heroic and sometimes it's easy to slip and forget he's trying to move on. Percy's sea green eyes drown him and he's only now remembering he can swim.

"Better," he repeats. He looks over to where Will is sitting and his lips quirk. "I'm getting there."

"That's good." Jason drapes his arm around Nico's shoulders, drawing him close. "So, we're going to team up?"

Sometimes Jason's affections are suffocating, stifling. Like an oversized blanket, covering him entirely.

It reminds him of Bianca and he lets the arm sit there.

"Fine."

2.

It's quiet here, in Pluto's temple. In the moonlight, the jewels glitter dangerously, and he wonders if Hazel's curse is actually gone.

"How's Piper?" Hazel asks. The two camps might not be at war, might even have their gates open, but that doesn't make traveling between them any easier.

The distance is large, too large for a casual trip. And the tension, while relaxed, still exist. A hidden vein that's still deciding if it will be unearthed or buried deep.

It might be many years before the fissures will disappear. "Good. She and Jason are having a small spat though."

"What?" Hazel whips her head to look at him. "Why?"

"She wants to move here-Annabeth's been telling her about the college. Jason doesn't really want to." Nico shrugs. Aside from Reyna, he isn't sure Jason has any friends here at all, despite being ex-Praetor. "I'm sure it'll be over soon."

Hazel rolls her eyes. "You're too relaxed." She looks down at her hands, and throws the diamonds piled around them into the pile in front of them. "But I guess you're right."

She doesn't ask about Leo. They haven't felt his presence still and his shadow hangs next to them. A ghost they can't contact, as much as they want.

"Frank?" Nico asks at the same time Hazel goes, "Will?"

There's an awkward silence and Hazel laughs, bumping her shoulders against her brother's. "Frank is really tired of being Praetor by himself. There's too much to do, too many fights to calm down. It's amazing Reyna was able to do it by herself for so long. I hope she comes back from vacation soon."

Nico nods. "Somehow I can't picture her sister and Thalia getting along for a few hours, let alone a whole camping trip."

"And a camping trip." Hazel chuckles. "How is that even a vacation?"

They fall silent again. Even the crickets don't chirp here, the temple truly a monument to the dead.

"Frank's thinking of studying here, but I kind of want to study outside for a while. It's dangerous but...I want to see more of the world." Hazel tugs a curl, twisting it around her fingers. "I want to see just how much New Orleans has changed. And...other places."

"Good luck," Nico says. Hazel hums and then bumps his shoulders again. Sighing-his friends, his _family_, it's full of busybodies. "Will's good. He thinks I'm healed now."

"And?"

"...and Jason drags him onto our team for capture the flag."

Hazel sighs. "You're so slow." She rests her head lightly on his shoulder. "But it suits you. You happy now?"

"Happier," he replies. He thinks of Jason, of _better_, and shakes his head. For some reason, he can't just say happy, good.

It's always just a stage above his last feelings and nothing feels like it's settled, like he's reached his stop.

"That's good."

"So, language lessons?" Nico asks. Jason is horrible at languages, only keeping those few keywords he learned from either Piper or Nico and giving up on the rest. Maybe it's just the similarites between French and Italian, but trading words with Hazel is easier.

"No." Hazel reaches over, squeezing his hand. Her touch is slowly becoming more and more comfortable and he finds himself leaning on her more with each day. "I was wondering..." she hesitates.

"What?"

"Could you tell me about Bianca?"

His heart doesn't stop like it normally does. Doesn't freeze or erupt and he doesn't feel like he's going to crumble into a million pieces.

"Sure. Bianca...she was always the braver one."

And for the first time, it doesn't hurt to say her name.

3.

"How was the camping trip?" Nico asks, carefully petting Aurum's coat. Maybe it's because they're not alive, but oddly enough Reyna's dogs never shied from his touch.

"Relaxing," Reyna replies, carefully clipping her purple cape around her shoulders. While she usually prefers Minerva's-Athena's aegis, it doesn't follow decorum.

And the Roman's are always one for decorum.

"Camping is?"

"Mmm...I see your point. But it's a little different with Thalia and Hylla." Pulling her hair back, she starts to braid it. "Then again, it also wasn't because of a quest."

"That does make a difference."

"Too bad Annabeth couldn't come." Nico notice she doesn't mention Piper and he doesn't ask. Despite her initial attempt after the battle, the two girls actually haven't gotten all that much closer. Not yet at least, and he more than anyone understands how uncomfortable it is to get along with 'the rival'.

Even if they were never truly a 'rival', even if you were never really in a fight.

The silence between them is comfortable, in a different way than with Jason or Hazel. Unlike either of those two, she's not an affectionate person. It's easiest to relax with her and he often finds himself dozing off without meaning to.

"I think I've come to understand her words."

Nico snaps to attention, confused. "Whose?"

"Venus's." Reyna turns to face him now, her braid complete. Already in full praetor mode, though she gives him a small smile. "_No demigod shall heal your heart_."

Nico scowls, remembering the rest of the line. "And?"

Reyna chuckles at his expression. "I don't need to fall in love to heal my heart. Just having my friends, just taking care of myself, that helps." She sits next to him now, her hand unconsciously petting Argentum. "I don't need love to be happy. Not for now, at least."

Nico stares at her. "You're strong."

"Maybe." She turns to him, her expression serious. "So are you."

He can't stop the blush that covers his face and flustered, looks down at the Aurum. Her compliment is different from Hazel's, from Jason's. From Will's.

Her words are always so carefully picked, always weighed and full of meaning. Never given just because they're friends or because she thinks it's the right thing to do.

When Reyna says he's strong, she means it.

His face feels hot and he resists the urge to bury it in Aurum's cool, sleak body. "Thanks."

4.

"You haven't been exerting yourself?" Will asks, almost demands-his tone is always strong, always powerful.

It almost threatens to pull Nico under. "No. I promised."

"...good. How long are you staying?" Will runs a hand through his hair, a nervous tic of his, and Nico stops at that thought.

A nervous tic. And he knows of it. Maybe things really do change, however slowly, however minutely. "For a month or two."

"Not all that long." Will frowns. "I don't think you really need to travel all that much."

In the distance, he can see Percy. Percy and his ocean eyes, Percy and his shadowy hair and all those embarrassing, awkward metaphors he thought of for the past few years.

Percy, and his butterflies only faintly flutter now. Faintly, ever so faintly. Nico watches Will from the corner of his eyes and his butterflies almost leap into action.

Yeah, maybe things can change.

"Nico, you're smiling." Will stares at him surprise and Nico touches his mouth.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." Nico replies, dropping his hands. They brush lightly against Will's, the most he can do now.

Will smiles anyways, broadly, and it's enough.

It's more than enough.


End file.
